justia

ABA authors and Cybersleuth seminar speakers Carole Levitt and Mark Rosch have revised and updated their book, The Cybersleuth’s Guide to the Internet, now in its twelfth edition.

The Cybersleuth’s Guide provides both basic and advanced information for anyone wanting to do cost-effective investigative or legal research on the Internet. The new edition features many updates, additions, and revisions to keep up with the ever-changing Internet. In fact, this edition has over 100 pages more than the prior edition.

All of us at Justia – human and pup alike – would like to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July!

Given what we do here, it shouldn’t be any surprise that we’d also like to declare this Free Law Independence Day. To paraphrase Richard Henry Lee’s famous resolution, and with a little help from our friends at Law.gov, let it be resolved:

That Law is, and of right ought to be, free and independent. That it should readily be available to all without allegiance to any one publisher, and that all connection to direct fees for dissemination of primary legal materials should be totally dissolved.

Who doesn’t like puppies? They are cute, adorable, and have a way of helping folks part with hard-earned cash in their wallets. Thankfully, more states are enacting stricter laws to regulate commercial puppy mills that breed dogs for profit, but often raise and house them in deplorable conditions.

It’s that time, dear Justia readers, when we review some monthly lists. Here’s the scoop on April’s highest scoring lawyers on Justia Answers, along with a look at which Onward blog and Facebook posts readers viewed the most.

Unless your head has been stuck in the sand over the last week, you’ve probably spent some time wondering about how 77 million Sony PlayStation Network gamers had their online data hacked, and their credit card information possibly stolen.

What if a hacker got a hold of your law firm data. You know: client names, addresses, and social security numbers, their bank information, your bank account, your court calendar, and — Holy $&@*#%! — your time and billing information.

There’s been a huge hullabaloo this week about a discovery by two engineers that Apple iPhones and 3G iPads log users’ locations with geo-coordinates and time stamps. A day later, it was revealed that Google’s Android operating system can store two files tracking users’ travels: one based on WiFi, and the other based on cell tower triangulation.

Oh, and one more thing. There is no federal law concerning GPS tracking, and state laws on location tracking vary.

But doesn’t turning off any location-based settings on your phone take care of the problem? Maybe.

Twitter libel (‘twibel’) cases are growing. Courtney Love just paid $430,000 to settle a twibel case filed by a fashion designer who accused the rocker of defaming her in a series of tweets with incredible accusations. A Welsh politician in the U.K. recently admitted to twibeling his city council opponent on election day. The cost of his settlement? Damages of £3,000, plus £50,000 in legal fees.

Although we’re not aware of any twibel case that went to verdict, we’re confident that day will inevitably come.

Illinois law dean and professor Vikram David Amar comments on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Franchise Tax Board v. Hyatt and what it says about stare decisis, the notion that prior Court rulings are entitled to respect in the Court today.